One Piece Flow: Our Custom Amazon Processing Tool

THE FOUNDATION

Nearly three years ago, we sat down in a room to tackle a big question: how do we build the Dream Tool for our inventory processing operations? At the time, this concept only existed in our imaginations.

Deciding to build our entire inventory processing operations to run 100% native to the Salesforce platform was the easy part. Salesforce has been the technology that Netrush has relied on for a majority of its software needs for almost 10 years.

The hard part was defining what exactly we wanted. Starting with a blank whiteboard and our boldest ideas, we created a wish list of features that covered everything we were looking for. We allowed ourselves to be led by ambition and best-case-scenarios, sparing no detail when mapping out an ideal.

We were certain of what we wanted

A program that would drive efficiency while eliminating unnecessary steps in the shipping process

A way to automate all of the manual checks and procedures that are subject to human fallibility

A scalable, repeatable process that could manage the mass volume of stock going through our facility

A user-friendly interface that could simplify our complex demands

The flexibility to iterate if and when new ways to improve came up

THE PHILOSOPHY

There’s a philosophy to OPF: Small, small, small, small batch sizes, with the ultimate small batch size being one. By containing the process and reducing it to a single step, a literal One Piece Flow, we’ve been able to free our associates and remove costly touches.

LONG-TERM VISION

Today, OPF is a system we can duplicate in other areas and regions. We can take it anywhere. With Netrush in the middle of an international expansion project, we have found a way to scale supply chain quality in any destination.